MRC-15

How might we crush rocks in a more efficient way than today

Rock crushing & Preparation in Iron-ore Mines

Working in a mine is a hard job. It also is quite dangerous. After blowing up explosives to loosen rocks inside the mine, the LHD collects and brings the rocks to a Rock Breaker, which is taking its time to place and break rocks. Could this be a more efficient process? - Yes, it can. With the MRC15, a combined force of the LHD and the Rock Breaker.

A TRIP to the biggest iron-ore Mine in the world - Kiruna

After a nearly 9 hours ride we arrived at Kiruna, to get a broad overview of the mine and to hear about the situation and problems that mine workers have during their work. This project was carried out in collaboration with ATLAS COPCO and LKAB.

We visualized the mining process in Kiruna and presented the interviews we had with mine workers. Hereby we already analyzed problem areas, open questions and possible solutions. Our priority was to document what was going on, where the users were working and exploring their daily tasks.

Visualising User Journey

Research & synthesis presentations

Discussing collected data

Design opportunity: Rock crusher

Clustering design opportunities

For the different research phases we worked in teams, afterwards each of us decided on their personal area of interest to develop a concept.

The mining process - How it is today vs. a more efficient process

Increased efficiency with combinedLoading-Crushing-Dumping

While working with different design methods, the shape of the Mobile Rock Crusher developed. The hydraulic arms collect the rocks, while - at the same time - the rocks get transported over conveyor belts inside the body and getting crushed. When they achieve the proper size (0.5m), they get dumped onto the oncoming trucks.